World Tour Finals: Srikanth, Sindhu suffer 2nd consecutive loss

Bangkok, Jan 28 : Star Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu suffered contrasting defeats in their respective second group ‘B’ matches at the BWF World Tour Finals here on Thursday.
While Kidambi lost 21-19, 9-21, 19-21 to Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei, Sindhu suffered a 18-21, 13-21 loss to Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon.
Srikanth, who is making his fourth appearance at the season finale, will next face Thailand’s Angus Ng Ka Long while Sindhu will lock horns with another local Pornpawee Chochuwong in their last group stage encounters on Friday.
In the men’s singles event, Srikanth showed great skills in the opening game and dominated the proceedings till the end against his fourth-seed opponent to seal it 21-19 in 23 minutes.
However, Tzu Wei came back strongly in the second game and registered a 11-5 lead at the interval. He extended the lead to 16-7 before Srikanth came back to score two points to reduce the deficit to 16-9. But the fourth seed then won five straight points to seal the game 21-9 in 19 minutes to force the match into the decider.
In the third game again, Srikanth started off brilliantly but wasn’t able to hold on as he conceded a 11-10 lead at the mid-game break. Tzu Wei, however, kept his composure and despite losing three consecutive points towards the end, he won the game 21-19.